In this three-study dissertation, I present an in-depth examination of patterns in the paraeducator workforce across two states: Indiana and Washington. In each study, I leverage longitudinal administrative data to answer questions about the distribution, turnover, and impact of paraeducators in the workforce using both descriptive and causal methods. Together, these studies indicate that paraeducators are often unevenly distributed across contexts (e.g., by school urbanicity, student enrollment by subgroup) and these contexts play a role in shaping workforce patterns among paraeducators. More specifically, I find differential statewide distributions in paraeducator allocation based on district characteristics, differential risk for turnover based on paraeducator characteristics (such as race/ethnicity, gender, experience, and salary), but universally limited impacts of paraeducator turnover on student test scores. While the latter finding was surprising given substantial research demonstrating the critical role of paraeducators in supporting students and teachers, I discuss the implications of such a finding, including that educators, policymakers, and researchers need to look beyond programmatic silos (i.e., general education and special education) to develop effective educational systems. Together, these studies indicate that paraeducators are often unevenly distributed across contexts (e.g., by school urbanicity, student enrollment by subgroup) and these contexts — in combination with personal characteristics — play a role in shaping workforce patterns among paraeducators. Overall, this dissertation adds to the growing body of literature that uses administrative data to answer questions of consequence in special education and illuminates an area of the workforce often looked past in large-scale quantitative analyses. This work holds implications for research, practice, and policy, particularly around diversity in the educator workforce, policy incentives for educator retention, and increasing the quality and use of administrative data and research on the paraeducator workforce.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/48983 |
| Date | 05 June 2024 |
| Creators | Kaler, Lindsey Rogers |
| Contributors | Jones, Nathan D. |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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